Adoption benefits:

* One-year Teammates membership

* Recognition signage with the car during the run of the exhibit

* Recognition and on the Museum’s website under current exhibits

* Listing on the Adopt-an-Exhibit donor wall in the Museum

* A certificate of adoption

Italia Grand Prix

Year Built: 1907

Chassis: Itala

Engine: Inline 4-cylinder

Driver: Henri Fournier

Livery Year: 1907

Adoption cost: $750

Notable bicycle racer, Henri Fournier, drove to several wins in European races before bringing the Turin, Italy-built Itala to the United States. Fournier placed eighth out of 20 competitors in the 1908 American Grand Prix in Savannah, Georgia, a 402-mile road race. In 1910, during a race at the English high-banked concrete Brooklands circuit, Fournier recorded a lap of 101.8 mph. The Itala’s design was considered overweight and underpowered against its competition even though it was equipped with a 900 cubic-inch four-cylinder engine, which allowed a maximum 1,800 rpms (revolutions per minute). The Itala was one of the first to adopt a live rear axle and differential gears, a technological advance over the then-common chain-drives. Due to the condition of early roads, the Itala occasionally ran with fenders for muddy conditions.